IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v38y2010i5p2536-2544.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social cost-efficient service quality--Integrating customer valuation in incentive regulation: Evidence from the case of Norway

Author

Listed:
  • Growitsch, Christian
  • Jamasb, Tooraj
  • Müller, Christine
  • Wissner, Matthias

Abstract

In order to overcome the perverse incentives of excessive maintenance reductions and insufficient network investments arising with incentive regulation of electricity distribution companies, regulators throughout Europe have started regulating service quality. In this paper, we explore the impact of incorporating customers' willingness-to-pay for service quality in benchmarking models on cost efficiency of distribution networks. Therefore, we examine the case of Norway, which features this approach to service quality regulation. We use the data envelopment analysis technique to analyse the effectiveness of such regulatory instruments. Moreover, we discuss the extent to which this indirect regulatory instrument motivates a socially desired service quality level. The results indicate that internalising external or social cost of service quality does not seem to have played an important role in improving cost efficiency in Norwegian distribution utilities.

Suggested Citation

  • Growitsch, Christian & Jamasb, Tooraj & Müller, Christine & Wissner, Matthias, 2010. "Social cost-efficient service quality--Integrating customer valuation in incentive regulation: Evidence from the case of Norway," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 2536-2544, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:38:y:2010:i:5:p:2536-2544
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301-4215(10)00004-2
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christian Growitsch & Tooraj Jamasb & Michael Pollitt, 2009. "Quality of service, efficiency and scale in network industries: an analysis of European electricity distribution," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(20), pages 2555-2570.
    2. Léopold Simar & Paul W. Wilson, 1998. "Sensitivity Analysis of Efficiency Scores: How to Bootstrap in Nonparametric Frontier Models," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(1), pages 49-61, January.
    3. Afriat, Sidney N, 1972. "Efficiency Estimation of Production Function," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 13(3), pages 568-598, October.
    4. David Sappington, 2005. "Regulating Service Quality: A Survey," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 123-154, November.
    5. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Rhodes, E., 1978. "Measuring the efficiency of decision making units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 2(6), pages 429-444, November.
    6. Tim Coelli & Denis Lawrence (ed.), 2006. "Performance Measurement and Regulation of Network Utilities," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3801.
    7. Pekka Korhonen & Mikko Syrjänen, 2003. "Evaluation of Cost Efficiency in Finnish Electricity Distribution," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 121(1), pages 105-122, July.
    8. William W. Cooper & Lawrence M. Seiford & Kaoru Tone, 2006. "Introduction to Data Envelopment Analysis and Its Uses," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-0-387-29122-2, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nepal, Rabindra & Jamasb, Tooraj, 2015. "Incentive regulation and utility benchmarking for electricity network security," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 117-127.
    2. Castro, Rui & Faias, Sérgio & Esteves, Jorge, 2016. "The cost of electricity interruptions in Portugal: Valuing lost load by applying the production-function approach," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 48-57.
    3. Yuan, Peng & Pu, Yuran & Liu, Chang, 2021. "Improving electricity supply reliability in China: Cost and incentive regulation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(C).
    4. Yauheniya Varabyova & Jonas Schreyögg, 2018. "Integrating quality into the nonparametric analysis of efficiency: a simulation comparison of popular methods," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 261(1), pages 365-392, February.
    5. Xie, Bai-Chen & Zhang, Zhen-Jiang & Anaya, Karim L., 2021. "Has the unbundling reform improved the service efficiency of China's power grid firms?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    6. Corton, Maria Luisa & Zimmermann, Aneliese & Phillips, Michelle Andrea, 2016. "The low cost of quality improvements in the electricity distribution sector of Brazil," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 485-493.
    7. Müller, Christine & Growitsch, Christian & Wissner, Matthias, 2010. "Regulierung und Investitionsanreize in der ökonomischen Theorie. IRIN Working Paper im Rahmen des Arbeitspakets: Smart Grid-gerechte Weiterentwicklung der Anreizregulierung," WIK Discussion Papers 349, WIK Wissenschaftliches Institut für Infrastruktur und Kommunikationsdienste GmbH.
    8. Ghasemi, Mostafa & Dashti, Reza, 2017. "A risk-based model for performance-based regulation of electric distribution companies," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 36-44.
    9. Cambini, Carlo & Croce, Annalisa & Fumagalli, Elena, 2014. "Output-based incentive regulation in electricity distribution: Evidence from Italy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 205-216.
    10. Landegren, Finn & Johansson, Jonas & Samuelsson, Olof, 2019. "Quality of supply regulations versus societal priorities regarding electricity outage consequences: Case study in a Swedish context," International Journal of Critical Infrastructure Protection, Elsevier, vol. 26(C).
    11. Linares, Pedro & Rey, Luis, 2013. "The costs of electricity interruptions in Spain. Are we sending the right signals?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 751-760.
    12. Maziotis, Alexandros & Villegas, Andrés & Molinos-Senante, María & Sala-Garrido, Ramon, 2020. "Impact of external costs of unplanned supply interruptions on water company efficiency: Evidence from Chile," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    13. Du, Juan & Xu, Yanhong & Wang, Yi, 2023. "How to improve sustainability for industrial sectors: Optimizing production scales based on performance-oriented resource reallocation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    14. de Mendonça, Mário Jorge Cardoso & Pereira, Amaro Olimpio & Bellido, Marlon Max H. & Medrano, Luis Alberto & Pessanha, José Francisco Moreira, 2023. "Service quality performance indicators for electricity distribution in Brazil," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    15. Saastamoinen, Antti & Kuosmanen, Timo, 2016. "Quality frontier of electricity distribution: Supply security, best practices, and underground cabling in Finland," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 281-292.
    16. Müller, Christine, 2011. "New regulatory approaches towards investments: A revision of international experiences ; IRIN working paper for working package: Advancing incentive regulation with respect to smart grids," WIK Discussion Papers 353, WIK Wissenschaftliches Institut für Infrastruktur und Kommunikationsdienste GmbH.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhou, P. & Ang, B.W. & Poh, K.L., 2008. "A survey of data envelopment analysis in energy and environmental studies," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 189(1), pages 1-18, August.
    2. Andor, Mark A. & Parmeter, Christopher & Sommer, Stephan, 2019. "Combining uncertainty with uncertainty to get certainty? Efficiency analysis for regulation purposes," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 274(1), pages 240-252.
    3. Tim Coelli & Axel Gautier & Sergio Perelman & Roxana Saplacan-Pop, 2012. "Estimating the cost of improving quality in electric distribution: a parametruc distance function approach," CREPP Working Papers 1202, Centre de Recherche en Economie Publique et de la Population (CREPP) (Research Center on Public and Population Economics) HEC-Management School, University of Liège.
    4. Coelli, Tim J. & Gautier, Axel & Perelman, Sergio & Saplacan-Pop, Roxana, 2013. "Estimating the cost of improving quality in electricity distribution: A parametric distance function approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 287-297.
    5. Cherchye, L. & Post, G.T., 2001. "Methodological Advances in Dea," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2001-53-F&A, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    6. Aurélie Corne & Olga Goncalves & Nicolas Peypoch, 2020. "Evaluating the performance drivers of French ski resorts: A hierarchical approach," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(3), pages 389-405, April.
    7. Forsund, Finn R. & Sarafoglou, Nikias, 2005. "The tale of two research communities: The diffusion of research on productive efficiency," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 17-40, October.
    8. Cheng, Xiaomei & Bjørndal, Endre & Bjørndal, Mette, 2015. "Optimal Scale in Different Environments – The Case of Norwegian Electricity Distribution Companies," Discussion Papers 2015/22, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Business and Management Science.
    9. Nadia M. Guerrero & Juan Aparicio & Daniel Valero-Carreras, 2022. "Combining Data Envelopment Analysis and Machine Learning," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-22, March.
    10. Pillai N., Vijayamohanan, 2019. "Measuring Energy Efficiency: An Application of Data Envelopment Analysis to Power Sector in Kerala," MPRA Paper 101945, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Laurens Cherchye & Bram De Rock & Frederic Vermeulen, 2008. "Analyzing Cost-Efficient Production Behavior Under Economies of Scope: A Nonparametric Methodology," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 56(1), pages 204-221, February.
    12. Michael Zschille & Matthias Walter, 2012. "The performance of German water utilities: a (semi)-parametric analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(29), pages 3749-3764, October.
    13. Ibrahim Alnafrah, 2021. "Efficiency evaluation of BRICS’s national innovation systems based on bias-corrected network data envelopment analysis," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 1-28, December.
    14. Çelen, Aydın & Yalçın, Neşe, 2012. "Performance assessment of Turkish electricity distribution utilities: An application of combined FAHP/TOPSIS/DEA methodology to incorporate quality of service," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 59-71.
    15. Fukuyama, Hirofumi & Shiraz, Rashed Khanjani, 2015. "Cost-effectiveness measures on convex and nonconvex technologies," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 246(1), pages 307-319.
    16. Léopold Simar & Paul W. Wilson, 2015. "Statistical Approaches for Non-parametric Frontier Models: A Guided Tour," International Statistical Review, International Statistical Institute, vol. 83(1), pages 77-110, April.
    17. Falavigna, G. & Ippoliti, R., 2020. "The socio-economic planning of a community nurses programme in mountain areas: A Directional Distance Function approach," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    18. Chen, Chialin & Achtari, Guyves & Majkut, Kevin & Sheu, Jiuh-Biing, 2017. "Balancing equity and cost in rural transportation management with multi-objective utility analysis and data envelopment analysis: A case of Quinte West," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 148-165.
    19. Fan, L.W. & Wu, F. & Zhou, P., 2014. "Efficiency measurement of Chinese airports with flight delays by directional distance function," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 140-145.
    20. Olga Goncalves & Elisabeth Robinot & Hélène Michel, 2015. "Does It Pay to Be Green? The Case of French Ski Resorts," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) hal-01591790, HAL.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:38:y:2010:i:5:p:2536-2544. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.